"Let me explain how great a player he was. Hogan served in the Army during the war and was discharged in 1945. In 1949 he had a near-fatal car accident. But in those three and a half years in between, he won thirty-seven tournaments. No player before or since has so dominated the game."

In early July, on one of those lazy Monday afternoons when the course was closed, and having played golf that morning on Caddie Day, I was hanging out at the 1st tee when I heard a car coming down the road from the main gate. Glancing around, I saw a gleaming black Cadillac pull slowly into the empty parking lot. Like all caddies, I knew the members’ cars and this was not one of them.

A woman stepped out from the passenger’s side. I didn’t recognize her, but I saw she wasn’t dressed to play. Then a man got out of the driver’s side and he, too, was dressed in street clothes. I couldn’t make out his face, but I watched as he carefully removed his jacket, as if it meant a great deal to him, and handed it to the woman, who deftly folded it inside out and placed it on the back seat of the Cadillac.

Next he opened the trunk and brought out a flat white linen golf cap. He put it on and instantly I recognized him. His profile was famous from the sports pages, from the Movietone newsreels I had seen at the Towne Theatre, from the dozens of golf magazines I read all summer long in the pro shop. The breath went out of me.

He reached into the trunk of the big car and lifted out his golf bag and swung it onto his shoulder with the ease and sureness of someone who had once been a bag rat himself.

Before the strap touched his shoulder, I was off the bench and charging down the slope. There was no way I was going to let Ben Hogan carry his own golf clubs at the course where I was a caddie.

Can any of you understand how famous Ben Hogan was in 1946? Some of you may have seen Follow the Sun, the movie that was made of his life. I’m told there will be a special showing tomorrow morning. The movie’s not very good, but nevertheless it is the first film ever made about the life of a professional golfer, and that says something about Hogan’s impact on the golf world and beyond.

Let me explain how great a player he was. Hogan served in the Army during the war and was discharged in 1945. In 1949 he had a near-fatal car accident. But in those three and a half years in between, he won thirty-seven tournaments. No player before or since has so dominated the game.

This was the era when woods were made of persimmon, and shafts made of steel. There was no such thing as Big Bertha drivers or graphite irons. No one said a driver had a 460cc titanium head or a 10.5 loft. We couldn’t imagine 11-woods, weight cartridges to control the ball trajectory, or 64 degree lob wedges. Players had names like Sir Walter, Slammin’ Sam, Porky Oliver, and Lighthorse Harry Cooper. Hogan had the most nicknames: Battling Bantam Ben, the Wee Ice Man, The Little Texan, the Century Club Sharpshooter, and, always, the Hawk. The name fit his personality. Unlike, say, Tiger Woods, with his easy smile filling the TV screen, Hogan was silent on the course and distant with fans. He played a brooding, methodical game. Still, the great PGA player Tommy Bolt would say Hogan knew more about golf than any other five pros. Hogan, all the pros would say, played the same game they did, but stood apart from them. I could tell Hogan stories all day, but let me just share just one, told by Jimmy Demaret.

Demaret was leaving Oak Hill in Rochester hours after a round and when he flipped on his car lights, he spotted someone hitting balls on the practice tee. He could tell by the silhouette it was Hogan, so he walked out to the dark tee and asked, “Ben, have you been out here practicing since you played?”

“Yes,” said Hogan.

“What the hell are you trying to prove?” said Jimmy. “You shot sixty-four today and birdied ten holes!”

Hogan stared at Demaret, then said with complete conviction, “Jimmy, there’s no reason in the world why a man can’t birdie every hole.”

That was Ben Hogan.

I arrived at the Cadillac at full speed, and tumbled over myself skidding to a stop on the gravel. Valerie Hogan looked startled, then relaxed and smiled shyly. Ben, I recall, turned quickly from the car and froze me with those famous slate-blue eyes.

He was small, not much taller than five-eight, and he weighed less than 140. Back then, people said he resembled the movie star George Raft who played gangsters in the ‘30s and ’40s. With his face half hidden in the shade of his white linen cap, there was something sinister about the man, I’ll admit.

“Mr. Hogan, can I carry your bag, sir?” I blurted out.

Hogan held me with those fierce eyes and I felt instant panic.

“I’m not Ben Hogan,” he said, “I’m Henny Bogan.”

“Oh, Ben, don’t tease the boy,” Valerie whispered.

Hogan smiled, the familiar, gap-tooth grin I had seen in photos where he was holding up the winner’s trophy. He swung his bag off his shoulder and gave it to me, asking, “Are you big enough for it, son?” His voice was clear and sharp and although he’d grown up in Forth Worth, there was no trace of a Texan drawl.

I heaved the bag up on my back and staggered some from its weight--or perhaps from the importance of its being Ben Hogan’s. It was the first time I had carried a real player’s bag and every caddie knows what an honor that is.

Hogan reached into the huge trunk and lifted out his gray golf shoes, and continued to talk. “Mrs. Hogan and I were guests as a Western Golf Association dinner last night, and before we leave the Midwest for Texas, I thought I might play a practice round on your course for the Open next month. Is Jimmy around?” He was asking for our home pro, who was also from Fort Worth.

“No, sir,” I said.

“Do you think he’d mind if I played a few holes?” Hogan slammed the trunk closed and sized me up again with his slate-blue eyes.

“No, sir,” I said, then added, by way of explanation, “you’re Ben Hogan!”

When this story was posted in May 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:

Help Peace Corps get its full AppropriationSenators DeWine, Feinstein, Santorum, and Durbin are asking their colleagues to join them in signing a letter to Senate Appropriations leaders to fully fund the President's FY07 request for the International Affairs Budget, including a full appropriation for the Peace Corps. Forty-five Senators have already signed on. Here's how you can help. Please make your call by May 16.

PC evacuates East Timor, hopes to returnVolunteers serving in East Timor have safely left the country as a result of the recent civil unrest and government instability. Latest: The Peace Corps has informed us that they are monitoring the security situation on a daily basis and that it is the intention of the Peace Corps to return to East Timor if the security situation improves.

PCOL Comment: Director Vasquez, let us be the first to thank you for your service to the Peace Corps, congratulate you on your new appointment, and wish you good luck in your future endeavors. Although we have had our differences over the years and we opposed your nomination in 2001, we think you are leaving a solid legacy of accomplishment and have served the Peace Corps well.

Initiatives and Accomplishments: Vasquez's major initiatives and accomplishments since becoming Peace Corps Director include: an agreement with Mexico in 2003 to host volunteers, sending RPCVs to work domestically in Hurricane relief after Katrina, emphasis on recruitment of minorities and of community college graduates, upgrading Peace Corps' infrastructure especially IT upgrades in the online application tracking process and the Volunteer Delivery System, an emphasis on safety and security of volunteers including the creation of a Situation Room at Peace Corps Headquarters, modifying Peace Corps' "Five Year Rule" for employment, and the expansion of the Peace Corps to its highest level in 30 years. He is the third longest serving Peace Corps Director after Loret Ruppe Miller and Sargent Shriver.

Interview with a Hit ManRPCV John Perkins says that for many years he was an "economic hit man" in the world of international finance whose primary job was to convince less developed countries to accept multibillion dollar loans for infrastructure projects that left the recipient countries wallowing in debt and highly vulnerable to outside political and commercial interests. In this exclusive interview for "Peace Corps Online," Colombia RPCV Joanne Roll, author of Remember with Honor, talks to Perkins about his Peace Corps service, his relation with the NSA, "colonization" in Ecuador, the consequences of his work, why he decided to speak out, and what his hopes are for change.

Peace Corps stonewalls on FOIA requestThe Ashland Daily Tidings reports that Peace Corps has blocked their request for information on the Volkart case. "After the Tidings requested information pertaining to why Volkart was denied the position — on March 2 — the newspaper received a letter from the Peace Corps FOIA officer stating the requested information was protected under an exemption of the act." The Dayton Daily News had similar problems with FOIA requests for their award winning series on Volunteer Safety and Security.

PCOL readership increases 100%Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.

History of the Peace CorpsPCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help.

PC announces new program in CambodiaDirector Vasquez and Cambodia's Deputy Chief of Mission Meng Eang Nay announced a historic new partnership between the Peace Corps and the Kingdom of Cambodia that will bring volunteers to this Southeast Asian country for the first time. Under King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodia has welcomed new partnerships with the U.S. government and other U.S. organizations.

Peace Corps suspends program in BangladeshPeace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez announced the suspension of the Peace Corps program in Bangladesh on March 15. The safety and security of volunteers is the number one priority of the Peace Corps. Therefore, all Peace Corps volunteers serving in Bangladesh have safely left the country. More than 280 Peace Corps volunteers have served in Bangladesh since the program opened in November 1998. Latest: What other newspapers say.

RPCV admits to abuse while in Peace CorpsTimothy Ronald Obert has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a minor in Costa Rica while serving there as a Peace Corps volunteer. "The Peace Corps has a zero tolerance policy for misconduct that violates the law or standards of conduct established by the Peace Corps," said Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez. Could inadequate screening have been partly to blame? Mr. Obert's resume, which he had submitted to the Peace Corps in support of his application to become a Peace Corps Volunteer, showed that he had repeatedly sought and obtained positions working with underprivileged children. Read what RPCVs have to say about this case.

Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in dangerWhen the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject.

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